Single-faced sliding doors



June 14, 1960 F. H. BLAKE SINGLE-mean sLInING nooRs Filed 0017. l. 1956 X l0J FIG FREDERICK H. BLAKE IN VEN TOR.

"United States Patent SINGLE-FACED SLIDING DOORS Frederick H. Blake, P.O. Box 14, Medina, Wash.

Filed Oct. 1, 1956, Ser. No. 613,056

3 Claims. (Cl. 20-19) This present invention relates to the general art of sliding doors, and more particularly to a sliding door that is intended to provide a lightweight inexpensive door by the expedient of employing only one sheet of plywood, and that on the showing side of the door, and having the panel stiifened by stitfening members of wood which, in turn, are reinforced with embedded metal strips.

ln order to build acceptable housing up to the standards set by the Federal Housing Administration and still keep the cost of the same within a realistic figure that can be amortized by the average young couple, the various builders throughout the country are making every effort to give a good building, but with savings made at any point where the saving will not materially affect the livability of the residence. In the average home there are manyA door openings, such as closets and the like which, if provided with conventional doors and door lframing, add a great deal to the overall cost of a house. Y As a result, a wide variety of arrangements have been provided to make less expensive closures for such openings, and these have been made out of a wide range of materials and of designs ranging from accordion or folding type to the cheapest expedient of merely placing curtains over the openings.

In my present invention I have provided an economical construction that, from the outward appearance and for all practical purposes, provides a solid door, or preferably a pair of doors, which have all the desirable characteristics of the double panel plywood doors without their attendant weight and cost. In sliding doors it is very desirable to have a door that will not rack and which will not Warp. These conditions could not be fulfilled by the lightweight framed panel door of the general style that has been made for residence doors and stores. The next step was to use sheets of plywood in which the line veneered woods could be employed and to use two panels, one on the front and one on the back. This arrangement of course called for considerable framing and spacing members which were disposed between the two panels in order to hold them in place.

For many clos'et openings, for instance, it is unnecessary to provide the interior panel, because it is never seen, and otherwise serves only the purposeof stilening the door so that it will not warp an excessive amount. With my present arrangement I am able to discard the inner panel, which of course is the full size of the door,

, and on a double door closure for a clothes closet, for

instance, this eiects a very appreciable saving.

A still further saving is made in the framing and reinforcing strips Which now have only one purpose, and that is to give front and edge nished appearance, as only the front and certain edges can be observed. With my plan it is possible to employ marginal framing of lightweight material relatively and to employ diagonal bracing, again of lightweight material. It has been found that to double the size, for instance, of the framing and bracing members still does not provide a non-warping door where only one panel is employed. I therefore have devised a plan for metal reinforcing the framing and bracing members, and this is achieved by insetting strips of steel which present their edges to the panel or front plane of the door, so that maximum resistance is pro- 2,940,137 Patented June 14,

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vided against warping, and it has proven very satisfactory.'

The principal object of my present invention therefore is to provide a reinforced single-faced slidingdoor fori single entrance spaces, such as clothes closets and the like;

A further object of my present invention isY to provide a single-faced sliding door having marginal framing and diagonal bracing, which framing and bracing are rein-l forced by'metal'strips that are embedded in the materials so as to present the lgreatest resistance to the warping of the door structure.

A further object of my present invention is to provide guide means for the bottoms of the doors, which engage' the doors at one point only, to the end that little, if any,- obstruction is offered the housewife whenshe desires to sweep or vacuum the closet oors. A

A further object of my present invention is to employ unique guide means and door-supporting means made of plastic materials, to the end that anoiseless operation is provided for the doors. Y l

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the description and disclosure in the drawings, or may be comprehendecl or are inherent'inthe device.

In the drawings: j y

Figure l is a perspective view showingthe back side of two sliding doors made after the teachings of this present invention. v f

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view, partly in section, illustrating the positioning of the steel reinforcing members and the manner in which the bottoms of the doors are held in place against lateral swaying. l

Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary cross-sectional views taken along similarly numbered lines of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a perspective View illustrating the overhead suspension arrangement employed with my doors.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings, the numeral 10 designates the facingmaterial for my doors. This is normally of plywood, in order that a lightweight compact doorbe lobtained and also' that fullest advantage can be taken of the wide range of imported and domestic decorative Woods which are readily obtainable in plywood form, as they cost only slightly in excess of :the domestic fir. The plywood panel 10, which provides the face of the door, is normally made three to four feet wide and easily about seven feet high, and thus the panels cut to advantage. As the plywood facing is normallyrelatively light, in the order of lz'f stock, it must rely upon marginal framing, and bracing in order to havel suihcient resistance to warping,to make it a practical expedient.

In my present doors I iind it desirable to employ top and bottom frame members as -12 and 14 of appreciable weight and then to connect these with vertical marginal framing members 16 and 18. These members, under ideal conditions, give suiciently rigidity to the margins to hold the panel Il@ in a single plane. However, it is very necessary that there be no drumming effector any tendency to push in the center of the panel. Consequently it has been `found desirable to provide the ,diagonal bracing members as 2t) and 22. These members give'greatly increased rigidity and again, under ideal conditions of uniform humidity, they wouldeibe quite satisfactory in use. Experience has proven, however, that humidity is constantly changing in the average residence and, when this change of moisture content in the ambient air has a chance to permeate the wood, then we get warping not only in panel 10 but in the relatively light marginal and diagonal members. Y I

It naturally follows that, if the marginal framing and the diagonal bracing members are reinforcedso that they will not warp under conditions of changing humidity, 

